cold agglutination

Definition: agglutination of red blood cells by their own serum (see autoagglutination), or by any other serum when the blood is cooled below body temperature, but most pronounced below 25°C; the phenomenon results from cold agglutinins; may be seen occasionally in the blood of apparently normal people or as a pathologic finding in patients with primary atypical pneumonia, infectious mononucleosis, and other viral diseases, certain protozoan infections, or lymphoproliferative neoplasms.

See: autoagglutination

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